Look closely at the new official buttons for the 2026 St. Paul Winter Carnival.

No — look even closer.

Forest Lake artist Randall Peterson demonstrates the style of pointillism during an art fair in June 2025. Peterson is the featured button designer for the 2026 St. Paul Winter Carnival, the 140th anniversary of the festival. (Courtesy of Randall Peterson)

The buttons, designed by Forest Lake illustrator Randall Peterson, are in a pointillist style, meaning each design is made up of tens of thousands of individual dots drawn in pen.

The collection of four buttons was unveiled Saturday night at the annual tree lighting ceremony at Union Depot. The upcoming Winter Carnival is the 140th anniversary of the annual cold-weather festival.

One button depicts the ice castle built for the first St. Paul Winter Carnival in 1886, and the illustration took Peterson 81 hours to complete. In another button design, families build snowmen in front of the State Capitol building. Peterson spent about 76 hours on it.

The process, he said, is meditative.

“I like to persevere in it and have the patience to do it,” he said. “But needless to say, nobody wants me on their Pictionary team.”

You can buy the buttons online at www.wintercarnival.com/p/marketplace/buttons or at businesses including all Cub Foods and Blaze Credit Union locations, East Metro locations of Kowalski’s (Grand Avenue, Woodbury, Oak Park Heights, White Bear Lake and Shoreview) and the following:

Alary’s Bar: 139 E. 7th St.
Bad Weather Brewing: 414 W. 7th St.
Borchert’s Meat Market: 1344 Frost Ave., Maplewood
Bright Corner Gift Shop: 640 Jackson St. (inside Regions Hospital)
Camp Bar: 490 N. Robert St.
CandyLand: 435 N. Wabasha St.
City & County Credit Union: 1661 E. Cope Ave., Maplewood
History Theatre: 30 E. 10th St.
Honest-1 Auto: in Roseville (3114 N. Lexington Ave.) and Falcon Heights (1565 N. Hamline Ave.)
Landmark Center Gift Shop: 75 W. 5th St.
Minnesota History Center Museum Store: 345 Kellogg Blvd.
Pillbox Tavern: 400 N. Wabasha St.
Russell’s: 656 Grand Ave.
Saint Paul Corner Drug: 240 Snelling Ave.
Saint Paul Hotel: 350 Market St.
Teri’s Hair Studio: 2966 White Bear Ave., Suite 31, Maplewood
West St. Paul Antiques: 880 S. Smith Ave., West St. Paul

Buttons are $5 each or $19 for a pack of all four. A limited number of four-packs with a commemorative pin are available for $20.

Peterson grew up in the Midway area in St. Paul in elementary school before moving to Maplewood and then, after getting married in the 1970s, to Forest Lake. His family were not die-hard Winter Carnival-goers, but “of course, being a little whippersnapper, we did some events,” he said.

Peterson began creating pointillism illustrations about four decades ago while working in publishing; the methodical art form proved to be a calmer counterpart to the fast-paced deadlines in his day job. Many of his illustrations feature lighthouses, streetscapes, old hotels and well-known buildings like the ones depicted in his Winter Carnival buttons.

Since retiring about four years ago, Peterson now has more time for pointillism artwork — which is to say, he manages to create about 10 to 12 pieces per year, given how time-intensive the technique is.

He also runs an Etsy shop and occasionally sets up booths at art markets. In fact, it was at the 2024 Holiday Bazaar at Landmark Center that Peterson’s art first caught the eye of Winter Carnival CEO Lisa Jacobson, who then approached him about designing the 2026 button set.

“Downtown St. Paul is so historic, and so for me I thought that was a big part of the button itself,” he said. “And I wanted to also include community and family, because it’s such a family-oriented event. So I thought, let’s take the historical structures and combine them with different family events.”

The upcoming Winter Carnival, the festival’s 140th year, will take place Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, 2026.

Related Articles

History and fantasy blend in ‘Rollicking! A Winter Carnival Musical’

Review: History Theatre’s Winter Carnival musical tuneful but scattershot

Queen of the Snows candidates inspired subplot in Marisa Coughlan’s movie

St. Paul Winter Carnival seeks your memories

Winter Carnival: Candidates sought for 2026 Aurora, Queen of the Snows